The Truth About Hell
Many God-fearing Christians believe and preach that souls rejected by God go to hell after they die. Most believe this simply to be a place where “bad” people go, while more extreme followers believe even good people go there if they reject Christ. Meanwhile, there are some who believe hell to be a figurative place of eternal separation from God. Scriptures of “unquenchable fire” and “everlasting torment” are used when describing hell to believers and nonbelievers alike. Origins of the doctrine of hellfire is multi-cultural and has wide array of reasonings. Some used this teaching to scare others into obedience, meanwhile others used it to justify their own terrible actions.
No matter, the purpose of this article is to clarify bible truths on hell. We will delve into scriptures, historical context, and language to get a better understanding of the bible’s stance on hell.
Modern Teachings of Hell
Is Hell Eternal Separation From God?
Many people say that hell is merely an absence of God. However, when we examine what the bible has to say about hell, then we find that this stance simply cannot be true. The Psalmist King David wrote, “If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.” (Psalm 139:8, NKJV). Why would David write that God is with him in hell if hell is a place of eternal separation from God?
Is Hell Eternal Punishment of the Wicked?
No. The bible clarifies that “the punishment of sin is death” (Romans 6:23, ESV). Furthermore, the bible states that when we die, we are no longer held accountable to our sins in life (Romans 6:7). Therefore, the act of dying is already the punishment of sin, and it would be unjust of God to punish people further by sending them to hell.
Do Only Bad People Go to Hell?
“Hell” is commonly thought of as a place to punish the wicked. Yet the bible describes “good” people who have gone to hell, including Jacob, Job, and even Jesus (Genesis 37:35, Job 13:14, Acts 2:31-32). By God’s standards, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23, ESV). Therefore, “hell” is not a place to seclude and punish bad people.
What Does the Bible Teach About Hell?
The Dead Cannot Feel Pain
The bible teaches that the dead are in a state of unconsciousness (Read: Ecclesiastes 9:10). When speaking of the state of the dead, scripture says, “When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans (or thoughts) perish.” (Psalm 146:4, ESV) Jesus in his ministry on earth described the state of death as being asleep (John 11:11-14). So, the dead are not being tortured in hell.
"Hell" Will Expunge the Dead
“Death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them” (Revelation 20:13, KJV). If hell is a place of eternal punishment, then it serves to ask why the dead would be delivered from hell. The dead are in “hell”, but God promises a resurrection for the dead (Read: Isaiah 26:19).
The Wicked are Punished with Death
It is clear in bible scripture that death is the wages of sin. This is why we all die. Going further, God states that the wicked will be punished with “eternal destruction” (Read: 2 Thessalonians 1:9). Of those deemed wicked after the Final Test, God writes, “their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8, ESV). Meaning that they will merely die again, this time permanently.
Confusing Scriptures
Revelation 20:10
This scripture reads, “And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Here the word tormented comes from the Greek βασανίζω (basanizō), which originally indicated a test by fire to see if metal was pure (Russel & Cohn, 2012). Remember, much of the language of the bible is metaphorical, and not to be taken literally. This scripture merely refers to the complete destruction of the wicked by fire that tests their spiritual purity.
Their Worm Does Not Die and the Fire is Not Quenched
In his many sermons, Jesus repeatedly uses this phrase to invoke strong imagery of the punishment of the wicked. This specific phrase he was drawing from Old Testament scripture, specifically Isaiah 66:24, which reads,
And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh. (Isaiah 66:24, ESV)
This phrase is understood to mean that the worms and fire are devouring the corpses of the wicked, and the fire will remain unquenched until the job is finished (Booher, 2016). Scriptures that refer to the unquenchable fire are using poetic language to refer to the everlasting judgement pronounced upon the wicked, not the act of punishing going on for eternity (Unquenchable Fire, 2022).
Matthew 13:41-42
“The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:41-42, ESV). Some Christians use this scripture to describe “hell” as resonating with the sounds of crying victims. However, we can easily debunk that myth with more scripture. Psalms 31:17b reads, “Let the wicked be ashamed; Let them be silent in the grave.” (Psalm 31:17, NKJV). The verses in Matthew do not indicate eternal suffering; merely a moment where they will feel intense anguish and anger (Booher, 2016). After judgement is pronounced, they will be made silent.
Lazarus and the Rich Man
Some well-meaning Christians point to the parable of the rich man and Lazarus as evidence of hell. However, this scripture is a parable, not to be taken literally. Furthermore, the parable of Lazarus and the rich man was satirical much the same way political cartoons are today. Bible scholar Harold Booher wrote, “Once it is understood that the one place in the entire Bible where one might construe a conscious suffering afterlife is a satire then any idea of it supporting traditional hell disappears.” (Booher, 2016).
Words Translated into "Hell"
Sheol
The word “sheol” comes from ancient Hebrew and Aramaic. This word appears 66 times in the Old Testament and is most often translated as “hell”. However, the word “sheol” is also translated as “grave” and “pit” in many places. This gives us a conundrum: How can the same word be translated so differently? What is sheol, exactly? The word שְׁאוֹל (sheol) is an ancient Hebrew word which literally means “the resting place of the dead” or “the common grave”. While the word has come to symbolically reference eternal suffering, the original meaning understood Sheol to be a place of darkness, coolness, and stillness, where there is no conscious thought (Mills & Bullard, 1997). There is no indication that the writers of the Old Testament thought of Sheol as a place of suffering. This meaning was applied only in later centuries.
Hades
“Hades” is the Greek word for the lord of the underworld and the realm of the dead. Used interchangeably with “Sheol” when New Testament writers quote Old Testament scripture, it is understood that Sheol and Hades have the same definition (Booher, 2016). Since Hades is associated with a place of evil in Greek mythology, many Christians have retroactively applied the same meaning to Sheol, thus rendering both words as “hell” in many translations. However, the word Sheol in no way meant a place of eternal suffering, and only referred to the common grave. Thus, we can conclude that Hades as used in the bible represents the common grave, a place of darkness, coolness, and stillness, where there is no conscious thought, just as Sheol is.
Gehenna
Some traditionalists take the view that Sheol/Hades is where our bodies go when we die while Gehenna is the place where damned souls go to be punished for all eternity. The truth is, Gehenna was a real place, a trash dump just outside the city of Jerusalem. Anything dumped there was considered to have no further value (Booher, 2016). Some of the bodies of the poorest- those considered unworthy of a proper burial -were disposed of there as well. Going further, the valley where Gehenna was located (The Valley of Hinnom), was the place where Idolaters would sacrifice their children to false gods in fire. This place was a place of complete destruction, thus rendering it a very poor analogy for eternal torment! Gehenna is understood to by scholars to be a complete destruction of the soul, a death where one has no hope of being resurrected (Booher, 2016). Of Gehenna, Jesus said, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna[i].” (Matthew 10:28, ESV). Where it is used, Gehenna is a metaphor for the second death (Revelation 20:14).
Tartarus
In Greek mythology, Tartarus was a prison made to hold ancient beings more powerful than the Greek pantheon of gods. These beings were known as Titans, and, according to mythology, they are still locked in this prison to this day. The word Tartarus is used exactly once in scripture, in 2 Peter where it reads, “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into Tartarus[ii] and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment” (2 Peter 2:4, ESV) Tartarus is literally a deep abyss underground, where the angels who fell to earth during Noah’s day are kept as prisoner until the final judgement. It has nothing to do with humankind or the eternal suffering of human souls.
Some other words that are translated into “hell” in some translations include words such as pyre, meaning a burning fire and apoleia, which literally means destruction. None of these words indicate a place of eternal torment of human souls.
The Truth About Hell
Origins of the doctrine of hell pre-date the first preaching of hellfire in Christianity by thousands of years (Peters, 2019). In ancient Egypt, they taught of a realm for the dead where they suffer eternal torment. This teaching made its way into Jewish Mysticism, a pagan version of Judaism, where it formed Kabbalah, a teaching that Sheol had different levels of torment for departed souls. In ancient Norse mythology, the realm of the dead unworthy of making it to paradise was called Hel, ruled by Hel, the daughter of Loki, the god of chaos. Readings of ancient Norse texts make it clear that Hel was not a place of torment, but a resting place for those who did not die gloriously in battle (Mark, 2021). As Christianity spread, it adopted Jewish mysticism and combined it with teachings from cultures such as old Norse and founded the doctrine of hell we know today.
It is thought that this was originally used as a lesson to teach young children to obey God. Eventually, however, the church took this false teaching and made it official church doctrine. Just as with the young children, the doctrine of hell has been used for centuries to scare believers- who were not allowed to read the bible for themselves -into obeying church leaders without question.
Once we delve deeper into scripture, it becomes clear that the bible does not support the idea of human souls being tortured for all eternity. Rather, scripture clearly indicates that when we die, we do not suffer (Ecclesiastes 9:10). If our reward for salvation is everlasting life, doesn’t it only make sense that the punishment of sin should be everlasting death? Once a person has died for their sins, there is no need for further punishment as their sins are considered atoned for by their death (Romans 6:7).
These scriptures attack the character of God, who is love (1 John 4:8). Yahweh wants us to worship Him out of love, not fear (Matthew 22:36-38). A God who loves us so much that He’d sacrifice His son is not one who would eternally torment those who He loves. Understanding God’s character removes the fear of hell from worship and allows us to recognize God as the loving Father He is.
[ii] Translated as “Hell”
[i] Commonly translates as “Hell”
Works Cited
Booher, H. R. (2016). Hell; Deciphering Its Biblical Meaning. First Edition Publishing.
Center for Christian Ethics. (2002). Unquenchable Fire. Christian Reflections. Baylor University. Retrieved August 7, 2022 from: https://www.baylor.edu/ifl/christianreflection/HeavenHellstudyguide4.pdf
Mark, J. J. (2021, September 6). Hel. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 7, 2022, from https://www.worldhistory.org/Hel/
Mills, W. E., & Bullard, R. A. (1997). Mercer dictionary of the Bible. Mercer University Press.
Peters, M.A. (2019). Hell as education: From place to state of being? Hell, Hades, Tartarus, Gehinnom. Educational Philosophy and Theory. V.53(4). p.302-322 https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2019.1675470
Russell, J., & Cohn, R. (2012). Strong's concordance. LENNEX Corp.